Our Rovers Have Only Explored About 110 Miles of the Moon and Mars Combined

Senior Editor

January 30, 2013 // 03:08 PM EST

As if we needed any reminder that we’ve barely scratched the interplanetary surface in studying Mars and the moon. Space.com assembled an infographic that displays the total distance traveled by the top 9 furthest-traveling rovers sent on Mars and the moon, and well, most Americans drive more than the grand total in under a week.

Strikingly, even though we humanfolk set the first rover down in 1970, well over 40 years ago, we’ve barely logged 110 miles of total travel between the two. That’s less distance than lies between Los Angeles and San Diego. That’s a blip. And while satellites and probes have surveyed much more terrain from above, it sort of serves to reinforce the fact that truly vast expanses remain unexplored from the ground. Mars alone, after all, is some 4,221 miles in diameter.

Of course, it’s pretty impressive that we’re driving unmanned Curiosities around a celestial body some 140 million miles (on average) away from Earth in the first place--perhaps the most impressive vehicular trip in history, so there’s that. But when it comes to actual extraterrestrial off-roading, we've got a ways left to go.